Showalter, Williams win Manager of the Year awards

(Reuters) - The neighboring teams were not able to book a Beltway World Series, but their skippers swept the Manager of the Year awards as Matt Williams of the Nationals and Buck Showalter of the Orioles won the honors on Tuesday.

Showalter, who steered Baltimore to their first division title in 17 years, won the American League award for a third time, joining Hall of Famer Tony La Russa as the only managers to claim the honor with three different teams.

Williams led Washington to 96-66 record that was best in the National League and gave them the NL East title by a commanding 17 games -- the widest margin in the majors.

The teams, a one-hour drive apart on the U.S. east coast, each fell to the eventual World Series teams in the playoffs.

Washington manager Williams received 18 first-place votes, with runner-up Clint Hurdle of the Pittsburgh Pirates garnering eight in voting by members of the Baseball Writers' Association of America.